Global Look Press | Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Note: this is a machine translation from the original Russian text
As at the preliminary meetings of the Indonesian presidency of the Group of Twenty, the summit at the highest level showed that the contradictions between East and West are getting deeper.
It is logical to assume that the results of the international forum are reflected in the documents adopted by it, as well as in the communique on the results of bilateral meetings. As for the G-20 summit held in Bali, this is partly true. But not really.
On the one hand, the final declaration was signed after many compromises and shows the split of the world's leading economies into Western and non-Western parts. The West is mainly concerned about Ukraine, trying to "hang all the dogs" on Russia, isolate it, and Non-Western calls for an objective look at things, not politicize and work more on economic problems.
This non-Western concern was generally expressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting of the G20 summit on food and energy security. The politician pointed out that global supply chains were "in ruins", there are problems with access even to basic necessities. And the resulting shortage of fertilizers can lead to a food crisis of unprecedented proportions. The poor inhabitants of each of the countries are already forced to fight for survival, because they do not have the financial capacity to cope with this blow.
It is obvious that the West is primarily to blame for this situation, imposing sanctions against Russia and China, restricting the free exchange of goods in its political and vested interests. Is it not Russia's fault that the export of its agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets is limited? Modi, of course, did not say that. But the hints here are quite transparent. According to Western media, it was the Indian delegation to Bali that strenuously tried to shift the focus set by Western countries on the conflict in Ukraine towards global economic and financial problems. And it was she who played a key role in softening the wording of the final declaration, which could not have been adopted at all due to the disagreement of many G-20 member countries with the position of the G-7. In particular, India insisted on excluding the word "Russian" from the phrase "G-20 condemns the war in Ukraine." There is also a wording that there are "other opinions about this situation" And among those who express these opinions, first of all China and India. In addition, the declaration states that the conflict in Ukraine only "aggravated the existing problems of the world economy," and was not their root cause, as the West insists.
"... We must find a way to return to the path of ceasefire and diplomacy in Ukraine," the Indian Foreign Ministry quoted the prime minister as saying in Bali. Modi stressed that ensuring peace is at the moment "the necessity of the hour." In addition, the Prime Minister of India, to whom the presidency of the G-20 passes, expressed the hope that at the next G20 summit its participants will agree to "convey to humanity a resolute mission of peace."
The chairman of the forum, President of Indonesia Widodo, also urged to talk about serious problems in the global economy, and not about Ukraine and Russia. "Indonesians and the people of the world hope that the leaders will refrain from using precious moments at the summit just to criticize and attack each other. The world is on the verge of economic, military and other catastrophes – and the Third World War is on the threshold." And further: "If leaders or some of them are unwilling or unable to work together to find a way out of the global economic and security impasse, at least they can show modesty so as not to worsen the suffering of many people around the world." And finally, the leaders of the Group of Seven, that is, the West, "need to abandon their long-standing belief that they cannot be wrong and therefore have the right to impose their will on other nations, not so big and not so rich."
On the other hand, Western representatives used every opportunity to show that "the international community condemns Russia," although in fact it turned out that we are talking about a narrow group of rich countries with their own interests. Even before finding out the ownership of the rocket that fell on Polish territory, Biden urgently called a meeting of his wards in the night, in the sense of the G-7 leaders, who tried their best to "inflate" the incident, which at that time was covered with an information fog. It was funny to watch videos in which obsequious Englishman Sunak and Canadian Trudeau ingratiatingly look into the eyes of American Biden in the hope of seeing anger there. After that, Biden was forced to officially declare that there are no facts indicating that the missile was Russian and deliberately fired at a Polish village. Otherwise, these slightly insane people would not do stupid things.…
In addition to Ukraine and Russia, the focus of the summit was Chinese President Xi Jinping, to whom there was a whole queue of people who wanted to talk, mostly Westerners. And not only because Xi was without a medical mask this time and even shook hands with some. And first of all, because the Chinese leader has just received a mandate to manage China for the next five years, and also because, due to the difficult situation in the economy "because of Russia," some do not want to spoil relations with China - the second or first economy in the world.
Among those honored with Chinese attention were the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the President of France, and the President of the Republic of Korea. As it is not surprising, even talks between the leaders of China and Australia took place on the sidelines of the summit. For the first time in six years. This is a kind of sensation and a reflection of the changes. Recently, relations between the two countries have been difficult – due to Canberra's participation in the AUKUS military alliance (with the United States and Great Britain), as well as the quadrilateral security dialogue (QUAD) with the United States, India and Japan. Nevertheless, on the sidelines of the G-20, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "pleasantly discussed" trade and consular issues with Xi, noting that there are differences, but they can be resolved. Xi Jinping agreed and stressed: difficulties are not what we would like when interacting with Australia.
And of course, everyone was waiting for the meeting of Xi Jinping and Biden – the first face-to-face meeting after the US president took office and Xi Jinping's re-election at the twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of China. And it took place. And it also shows some changes. They are that the United States no longer inclines China to the "right side of history" and does not demand to condemn Russia and join sanctions against it. Apparently recognizing the futility of this venture, the United States softened the rhetoric, in exchange for receiving more restrained assessments of the Chinese side regarding Ukraine and a demonstration of readiness to continue negotiations and find compromises. What Xi is definitely not doing is distancing himself from Russia and accusing it of all mortal sins.
But the fundamental differences between the United States and China remain, and they take place approximately where the watershed between the West and Non-West, outlined at the G-20 summit, as well as at the previous East Asian Forum and at the subsequent APEC. The West has its own interests, sometimes selfish, China and the East in a broad sense have their own. China and other non-Western G-20 countries are not ready to sacrifice their economies and people's lives for the sake of the "high principles of democracy" imposed by Washington and its allies. There are indeed many problems and challenges in the world that need to be addressed, including high inflation, poverty, climate change, energy, and so on. And if the West is not ready to meet them halfway, then they will be solved within the framework of other associations, such as APEC, BRICS, SCO and others.
Returning to the final declarations of the G-20 summits, it should be recalled that they do not solve anything, since they are not binding documents for execution. They only declare a common agenda, sum up a common denominator under different points of view. The declaration of the summit in Indonesia is a reflection of deep disagreements, disagreement with the agenda imposed by the dominant minority on the majority who are aware of their role. And the Bali summit itself showed that despite the usefulness of communication, hopes for the G-20 as an alternative to the weakening UN are not justified. As it was by definition a non-decisive club of interests, so it remains by and large. And the provocations that Western countries have staged (such as an urgent meeting on a fallen Russian missile that turned out to be Ukrainian) further diminish the significance of such events.
Here it is impossible not to mention the fake of the largest Western news agency, which "by mistake" sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the hospital immediately after his arrival in Bali. In fact, it was not he who was hospitalized with the coronavirus, but the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen. But the level of "charging" of the Western media is impressive.